G'day all, This is my 159x. I've just finished cleaning it up. I'd like to find a finial and shade someday.
Hi Matty, Very nice restore! A few of mine also had severe paint loss, and I ended up polishing the brass instead of repainting. One had a charred wood handle which I sanded and varnished. The brass and natural wood look good together. Your reversed handle is easily rectified; you may want to use a drop of sealer on the valve thread to prevent leaks rather than tightening it too much as the fount end of the riser tube is soft soldered (and threaded) into the fount bung. I think the globe on your lamp is quite an early type. The later 355 globes have a more rounded (bulged)side wall and slightly smaller opening at the bottom, and have the green sunrise logo. Either way; scarce and fragile, so hwc ;-) Enjoy your lamp, they are a pleasure to use. -Phil
Phil, Thanks a lot for the reply, very informative. Thanks for the info on the Globe. Phil, I was interested in what you had to say about the 'wood' handle. When I first got the lamp I assumed it was wood. However, when cleaning it to replace back on the lamp yesterday I get the feeling it's some type of plastic. If it is plastic, would you suppose it may be a later replacement handle? Or, was your wood handle an 'upgrade'?
I've not heard of a plastic handle on those. The wood on mine was a light colour under the charred paint and I happened to have some old oak stained varnish handy. It's a little out of round but it works well enough. As you can see I use Veritas gas globes on mine, and keep the original globes safely packed away. You can get excellent reproduction globes from Mike at oldcolemanparts for about $25 US.
Phil, Whilst your handle was charred, can you tell me what colour it was originally? BTW, that is a nice looking lamp you have. Consider placing it in the reference gallery.
Hi Matty,The colours in this pic are fairly accurate (gold sprayed over cream): And the finial on the wire frame & shade:
Phil, Good grief they are terrific photos, thanks. I have long wanted to see such a photo of your second picture. I have made an offer to a seller for a parchment shade that I think dates to the '40's. My handle looks the same as your one. Perhaps the paint is such a good job I just thought it was plastic. It is 2:30am here, I'll check it thoroughly in the morning - daylight.
There are pleated/concertina modern shades that fit perfectly on that wire frame. The original shades are often faded, discoloured brownish, very fragile and with the plastic coating delaminating. I wish someone would reproduce the motifs of the shades, though. The sailing ship design is my favourite. If you can get or make a wire frame, a suitable shade should be easy to find. It should also be easy to modify an electric lamp shade to fit if the top hole is wide enough. There are also many electric lamps that have thin steel or aluminium threaded pipe (with flat steel nuts) that have the exact same inner diameter as the finial. I have made a number of passable finials for these lamps in this way. Not decorative but functional.
I've tried my best to determine if it is wood or plastic but I can't for sure. I don't want to mess with it too much as it's in very good condition and I don't want to damage it. If I had to bet my life on it and pick one, I'd probably opt for plastic - or would I, I just don't know. I did try picking away at in inside the handle but it's just too hard to tell.
Phil, I haven't the ability to make one but I will keep looking for a frame at least if I can't get a complete shade. I can then do what you advised and look for a covering.
It is awesome nice lamps that will do as good with or without parchmentshade. I had the chance to buy one myself for a year ago in Germany, but didnt and I still regret it They dont show often here in europe. Claus C
Claus, I was wondering about that as there is a lack of 159s' listed on the site. Did Coleman, as a whole, sell a lot of lamps in Europe? I bought this one and it cost me $57 delivered to my home. I thought that was a pretty good deal.
It is still possible to buy new Colemans from today, but from back then I guess it was Petromax, Optimus and Primus there was ruling the marked. The Colemanlamps from the 50's - 70's often shows in Germany and probably comes from the American forces stationed there in the time after the ww2. Mostly this is the traditional stormlamps - not much indoor-lamps like yours beauty. Claus C
Claus, Sorry, I should have been clearer, I did mean back in the era of this lamp. It makes sense that Coleman lamps are found in Germany because of the US armed forces being there. Thanks for that insight.
@Tony Press I think a phanal is the glass or globe of the lamp or lantern. I think he wants to buy one of these globes.
Mmm... Phanal is not a French word I am familiar with (and, I’m not French so that is a problem, of course). This is the best I could find: “Phanal”: “Fanal” -> “beacon”. I was seeking a bit of clarity. Cheers Tony
My French is very basic and rusty. I have not heard or used it since returning to Aussie over 20 years ago. I lived in England then and for work, I used to travel frequently to France and the French half of Belgium. I didn’t recognise the word phanal but my French mate gave me the clue, he says it’s old and not used in normal conversation, I suspect he had to look it up. Interesting what! Cheers Pete @Tony Press
